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Farming the Gastropod Shell

Welcome to this guide on how to obtain the Gastropod Shell that allows you to summon Jerry the Snail. I have split this guide into a few different chapters, explaining in detail the who, what, and where about this particular vanity item. I hope you find the information below useful. Good luck and happy farming!

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Prologue

What is a Gastropod Shell, who is Jerry the Snail, and why do I care? Well, you probably have lots of fond memories of the Gastropod and seeing your raid wipe to its slimy horror in Throne of Thunder. For this very reason, this is an amazingly fun vanity item that any respectable toy collector will want to include in their toy collection! When used, the Gastropod Shell summons Jerry the Snail and you will take control of him for 60 seconds. Jerry will slime his way forward, slowly but steadily, leaving a green slimy trail behind him, and mimicking the effect of the Gastropod, one-shotting any and every vanity pet he comes into contact with. Jerry is a reference from SpongeBob SquarePants. SpongeBob said that "Gary and Lary are really different than Jerry," and I tend to agree -- Jerry is one amazing little snail and I love taking him out of my pocket! Feed him lots of cookies, ... I mean, pets!

Chapter One: Preparation

First of all, you will need a raid id for Throne of Thunder that is cleared up to, but not including, Ji-Kun. You will zone in at the Forgotten Depths, at the tunnel mouth and sewage leading to the Roost of Ji-Kun. After each clear you can use the 'Reset all instances' feature to get a fresh set of spawns. To get back to the zone entrance, you can either use the Sunreaver Beacon or Kirin Tor Beacon, die and respawn outside, (dying and releasing no longer works since patch 6.0.2) or make clever use of spells like Teleport: Moonglade, Death Gate or similar. If you are unsure of your self-buffed burst potential, bring class specific flasks and/or potions to clear threats more reliable. The Gastropod Shell drops on all difficulties, so it is recommended to do this solo in a 10-man raid group. It is worth noting that it also drops in 25-man LFR, but obviously you will have to roll the dice against the rest of the raid.

Chapter Two: It's a trap!

The sewage is packed full of traps that you want to be careful not to trigger. There are three different types, and you want to avoid these as much as possible. The first are web formations on the ground that spawn Corpse Spider. These spiders cast Cocoon and Web Spray and will make quick work of you. The second trap is a glowing carcass lying on the ground, which spawn Bore Worm. These are an old reference to Flash Gordon, and they cast Shifting Doom. The third is not so much a trap, but a cloud of Choking Gas that moves around the sewage -- this is the least of your worries, but dodge it nonetheless. Beyond these traps there are Bow Fly Swarm that patrol the sewage. These cast Luciferase and you will have to burst these down quickly if you catch their aggro. With careful timing and pathing, you only have to dispense of one of these in the middle of the sewage. Save your cooldowns for this, as it is likely to be the most challenging part of the farm.

Chapter Three: Know your enemy

Your main goal is killing Gastropod. These are affected by Abrasive Radula and will cast Devoured if they catch up with you. They move by snail-pace though, so kiting them around the sewage should not be difficult. There is a grand total of five (5) Gastropod in the sewage, and they each have roughly 10.1 million health. You can safely melee them from as far away as 5 yards, giving you ample room to kite them in circles. The only other threat that you have to deal with is a stationary Bow Fly Swarm past the second (2) Gastropod -- this has roughly 7.8 million health. If you are having a difficult time killing the Bow Fly Swarm, you can leave and reset the instance at this point -- you have to outweigh time versus effort here, farming two easily, or farming five not so easily. Alternatively, bring a friend along for the ride!

Chapter Four: Pathing, kiting, and pulling

The droprate on the Gastropod Shell is quite low, roughly 0.70%, so you will want to maximize your efficiency in clearing the snails. Here you will find a visual guide of the path you will be taking to dodge the traps in the sewage and ducking clear of the Bow Fly Swarm that is patrolling the first part. Follow these simple steps and you should be clearing through in no time:

Dodge the patrolling Bow Fly Swarm (BFS) as it flies past the sewage entrance. Use the web trap on the farthest wall as a reference point. When the Bow Fly Swarm is ontop of it, you can safely run in. If you have any kind of speed boosts, i.e. Angelic Feather, Dash, Burning Rush or similar, use them here to get a head start.

Run into the sewage on the left side to avoid triggering the spider trap.

Run in-between the two worm traps and up the north flight of stairs.

Swing right when you reach the top and head up the south spiralling stairs.

Grab the first Bow Fly Swarm (G1) and kite it up the stairs -- it is wide enough to circle around and kite back down if need be.

The second snail (G2) is at the top, grab it and circle back down the stairs and back up again.

Run up the south flight of stairs to the Bow Fly Swarm (BFS), pop your cooldowns and burst it down. Watch out for any Choking Gas nearby, you don't want to add unnecessary damage at this point.

Snag the third snail (G3) atop the northern stairs and kite it down.

In order to pull the last two Gastropod (G4+5) you will have to tag them from atop of the stairs in order to not aggro the Bore Worm that spawn further in. Tag one with a ranged attack when it paths closest to you and immediatedly turn and run down. When the snail fixates on you, you can run up and tag the last snail if the pathing fits, if you want to save a bit of time (kiting two should not be too difficult).

Chapter Five: Map with critical locations

Below you will find a map with the sewage entrance (blue), the clearance point for the patrolling Bow Fly Swarm (yellow), and locations of the five Gastropod (green) and the single Bow Fly Swarm (red) you will be killing.

Comment by lordphoenix

I have solo killed something between 480 and 520 snails and still nothing. Is it certain that it drops in 10 man or should i do it in 25?

Comment by frustrating

How do you reset the trash? Leave instance --> reset instances? Cuz that ain't working for me.

Comment by Olisaurus

So... Anyone has an idea of how you can farm it now after the patch? Normally I'd just un-equip my gear and ran into worms so I would die and reset the instance before entering. That can't be done anymore, meaning it's probably going to take x10 times longer than it did before.

Comment by Briandris

I just wanted to note that I was able to reset the raid repeatedly. I had some guildies help me clear Maegara and then I took my toon out of the raid. After this I just keep extending the lock each week and when I feel like farming, I do. So far I've been running out because I'm cheap, lol. But it would definitely be worth killing yourself if you don't mind the repair bill because it's a darn long run! I use the "reset all instances" button and re-enter. For me, it never says "Throne of Thunder has been reset" but I went back in to check and the trash HAD re-spawned.

Happy Hunting!

Edit: When I pull the snail the bore worms come every time. After reading Nocta90's post (posted on the Gastropod's Shell page). I dismissed my pet and pulled the snail. As soon as the bore worms got close I used Feign Death to reset them and the snail did not reset. Remember to move back enough after the pull to allow you time to wait for the worms and reset them without letting the snail get close enough to kill you. Because he will, lol.

Edit 2: Due to a weird glitch/bug today my instance lock changed to heroic mode lock. Not sure how as I was alone and am certain I didn't do it accidentally. When it changed to a heroic mode lock, I could no longer reset the trash. I just had to wait about an hour and a half each time for it to re-spawn:( I've noticed there are an equal amount of players saying that the trash does or does not immediately re-spawn on this page and the one for the item itself. My experience today has me wondering if the people who can NOT reset the trash are using a heroic lockout?